


The (not so) Natural Father

by AvengersCompound (emilyevanston)



Series: Avengers as Parents drabbles [12]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Children, F/M, Fluff, Insecurity, Parenthood, Steve Rogers is a Good Dad, good parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 21:58:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyevanston/pseuds/AvengersCompound
Summary: The super serum made Steve good at a lot of things.  He’s not so sure if parenting is one of them.





	The (not so) Natural Father

“Daddy!”  The sound of his daughter, hysterical and crying filled the air as she came flying through the house.  Steve looked up just in time to catch the tiny bundle of energy as she flew into his chest and buried her face in it.  Steve’s arms automatically closed around her.

As the leader of the Avengers, it had become a long-running joke that Steve was the dad of the group.  Despite the fact if you just looked at how long he’d been awake and experiencing an actual life he was one of the youngest members of the team.  It was pretty common to hear either Clint or Tony spout off a ‘Yes, dad’ when he gave them an order they didn’t want to follow.  They told him he gave the best ‘I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed’ speeches of anyone.  That he always knew what to say when one of them was low.  So when you’d fallen pregnant the assumption by everyone was he’d just be a natural.

People did keep saying he was a good dad.  So why did he always feel like he was questioning every single decision he made?

From small things to what brand of diaper they should wear as babies.   To more important things like where they should go to school.  Everything that he did in relation to his children he double guessed.  The only thing that had come easily to him was vaccination and that was just because he’d lived through a world where those childhood diseases were all running rampant and he knew from first-hand experience how important it was.  Even still, when their little faces looked at him like he’d betrayed them and started bawling he felt guilty for doing it.

Sarah sobbed against his chest.  That whole body, can’t catch your breath, cry that only small children can really pull off properly.  “What’s wrong, little one?”  Steve said, holding the little girl against him and rubbing her back in small circles.

“Ja - Ja - Jamie - pu- pu -pu - pu…”  She stammered through her sobs.

“Honey, deep breaths.”  He said, rubbing her back in small circles.  He sighed.  Here was a problem he faced regularly.  His children took after him too much.  It was almost like they only got his genes.  His eyes, his hair, his nose.  Even the super serum passed on to them, and he’d never even considered that as a possibility.  He’d always assumed that that would be something he carried in his blood.  Not something that had fundamentally altered his DNA.  They also got his very strong ideas about what was right and what was wrong.  Given they were still small, that was narrowed to trivial things on the larger scale of the world but so very important in the eyes of children.  They also very occasionally ended up in small violent outbursts as sometimes happens with children and was perhaps the least surprising thing any children of Steve’s ended up doing.  “James!”  He called out.

Sarah’s chest heaved and she tried speaking again.  “H - he - he pushed me over, daddy!”  She wailed and hid back into her chest.   Her tears started to soak through his shirt.

“Are you hurt?”  He asked, still rubbing her back in small circles.  “James!”

“M - m - my knee.”  She wailed.

Steve sat her back and looked at her knee.  There was a small scrape but it had already started healing.  In the next few hours, it would have healed.   Steve lifted her up in the air and kissed her knee, following up by blowing a raspberry on her stomach.  “James!”  He yelled as he settled her down on his lap again.

The miniaturized version of Steve stepped through the door his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face.  “James,”  Steve said, his best ‘I’m not mad just disappointed voice.  “Did you push your sister?”

“Yeah, but she…”  James protested.

“James, when is that ever the answer?”  Steve said, feeling quite hypocritical really.  He knew one day that particular question was coming back to bite him in a big way.  He really needed a better speech for situations like this.  Now was not the time to improvise though.

“But, daddy she…”  James whined.

Steve narrowed his eyes.  “James.”

The little boy dropped his head and kicked the ground.  “Sorry, daddy.”

“I’m not the one you should be sorry to.”  Steve said.

“Sorry, Sarah.”  James poured.

“Now what do you think you can do to make her feel better?  She cut her leg.”  Steve asked.

James’ face scrunched up as he thought of a solution to the problem.  “I could get a band-aid and kiss it better.”

“Will that make you feel better, Sarah?”  Steve asked.

Sarah nodded her head and James ran off.  He returned a little while later with a packet of Sesame Street character Band-Aids.  Steve took the box and help put a plaster on Sarah’s knee.  James then kissed it better.

“That was very kind, Jamie.  Now did you want to talk about what upset you so much you pushed your sister over.”  Steve asked.

“She -”  James started before taking a big breath in.  “She tried to take the lego I was using and then she knocked down the whole thing. It got all smashed.  I told her not to.”

“Sarah is this true?”  Steve asked.

“I just wanted to play too,”  Sarah whined.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose.  “You really upset your brother.  How do you think you can help make up for it?”

Sarah looked at her brother and scrunched her little face up while she thought.  “I could get him a cookie.”  She suggested.

“That’s not really…”  Steve started.

“No, I want a cookie.  A cookie would make me happy.”  James said.

Sarah wriggled out of Steve’s lap and the two children ran off in the direction of the kitchen.  Steve sighed and got up following after them.

You were in the kitchen stacking the dishwasher when your two children came running in.  “Daddy said we can have a cookie.”  They said over the top of each other.

“He what?”  You ask standing up and watching them as they start pushing furniture around so they can climb up on the benches.  You narrow your eyes at Steve as he stepped through the door.

“I didn’t say they could.  I did the whole, fix the issue thing.  I thought she would say rebuild the thing she smashed.”  Steve explained.

You reached over to the cookie jar and took it out of their reach.  “And Sarah said cookie instead?”

Steve nodded.  “I really have no idea what I’m doing, most of the time.”

You chuckled and pulled two cookies out of the jar.  Sarah and James climbed down and stood in front of you bouncing on their feet.  You handed them each a cookie.  “Just one, and you can go outside and play with Kitty.”

“Okay, mommy.”  They said in unison and ran out the back door.

You put the cookie jar back again and came over to Steve and wrapped your arms around his neck.  “I let the kids name our dog Kitty.  I feel like that most of the time too.  You’re a natural.  Don’t worry about it.”

“You think?”  Steve asked looking down at you.  

You reached up and ran your hand along his jaw.  “I know.”  You said, and leaned up and kissed him.


End file.
